{"id":85189,"date":"2025-03-12T15:18:49","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T22:18:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=85189"},"modified":"2025-03-12T15:19:52","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T22:19:52","slug":"grill-your-own-wagyu-at-sosogu-the-new-japanese-grill-and-sushi-spot-at-lbx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/food\/grill-your-own-wagyu-at-sosogu-the-new-japanese-grill-and-sushi-spot-at-lbx","title":{"rendered":"Grill your own wagyu at Sosogu, the new Japanese grill and sushi spot at LBX"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Third grade was a big year for Tobi Miller. He met Jakob Dylan \u2014 son of Bob Dylan \u2014 with whom he later co-founded the Grammy-award winning band \u201cThe Wallflowers.\u201d He also befriended his future food-service business partner Richard Gottlieb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month also marked a major milestone. That’s when Gottlieb and Miller launched the second location of their Japanese barbecue and sushi restaurant, Sosogu. It’s now open at the Long Beach Exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The restaurant prides itself on high-quality ingredients and fresh seafood, including bluefin tuna, king salmon, blue crab, sea bream and more, Miller said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guests can grill their own Japanese A5 wagyu steak on one of 17 infrared grills imported from Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The grills keep all the smoke inside and provide \u201ca better sear\u201d with \u201ca more even cook,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The JBBQ Set at Sosogu, the newest sushi and Japanese barbecue restaurant at LBX, includes a variety of dishes such as short rib and filet mignon with miso butter. Other components of the JBBQ Set feature cabbage salad, marinated tofu, American wagyu brisket, and an A5 Japanese wagyu rib cap. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Sosogu is the newest restaurant in the Long Beach Exchange in Long Beach, on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sosogu also offers sushi coursings with a set selection of fresh fish. The So Lite option, for $27, comes with six different seafood dishes and edamame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Soso Sumo choice, for $59, comes with 10 separate sushi dishes and edamame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another menu highlight is the Nagoya-style wing, named for the Japanese city that popularized them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sosogu, which means \u201cpour it up\u201d in Japanese, also has a full bar with an array of sake, Japanese whisky and schochu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guests can order a tasting flight of sake or Japanese whisky and ask for a booklet with more information on each offering, Miller said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sosogu Sushi and Japanese BBQ is the newest restaurant at LBX in Long Beach on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Garlic noodles are served at Sosogu. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Miller\u2019s passion for Japanese cuisine dates back at least two decades, when he first ate at Sushi Nozawa in Studio City, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The restaurant, started by Japanese sushi chef Kazunori Nozawa in 1987, introduced Tokyo-style sushi to the region. Miller recalled that anyone who ordered a California roll was kicked out of the restaurant, which shuttered in 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nozawa now operates a chain of high-end sushi restaurants around Los Angeles called Sugarfish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first Sosogu location opened in Redlands in 2022, but Miller said he considers the Long Beach location the \u201cflagship store.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Link<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

At 3,500 square feet, it\u2019s almost twice the size and seats three times more people than the Redlands location, Miller said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His transition from the music business to the restaurant business came about \u201corganically,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After roughly 15 years in the music industry \u2014 split among \u201cThe Wallflowers,\u201d producing and engineering \u2014 Miller went to college to pursue a career in commercial real estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through that, he had a commercial space available and decided to start a restaurant with Gottlieb, Miller said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nagoya Style Wings with a sweet and smoky sauce at Sosogu. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A mushroom medley is part of the JBBQ Set at Sosogu. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova..<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

They started their first venture, LemonShark Pok\u00e9, in 2016. The restaurant now has locations in Culver City, Yucaipa and East Highland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Sosogu, Miller had a hand in designing the restaurant and the menu and chose the music for the restaurant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The restaurant\u2019s ambience is of supreme importance to Miller, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Sosogu\u2019s Redlands location, he went as far as gluing the volume knob so staff couldn\u2019t change it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I walk into a restaurant, especially my restaurant, and the music\u2019s not there. I just feel like there\u2019s something missing from my soul. It hurts me inside,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sosogu, 3860 Worsham Ave. Suite 300, is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Thursdays and from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The restaurant will hold a grand opening celebration on March 22 and 23 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day with 25% off all sushi coursings and half-off all signature cocktails.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sosogu has high-quality meat, seafood, sake and Japanese whisky, but it’s also got an interesting backstory \u2014 intertwined with a founding member of the Grammy-award winning band \u201cThe Wallflowers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23521,"featured_media":85173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"Sosogu has high-quality meat, seafood, sake and Japanese whisky, but it's also got an interesting backstory \u2014 intertwined with a founding member of the Grammy-award winning band \u201cThe Wallflowers.\u201d","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32323],"class_list":["post-85189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85189"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85194,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85189\/revisions\/85194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85189"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=85189"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=85189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}